{"product_id":"unabridged-the-thrill-of-and-threat-to-the-modern-dictionary-hardcover","title":"Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat To) the Modern Dictionary - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eStefan Fatsis\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/i\u003e, a vibrant, lively, and illuminating journey through the exotic world of Merriam-Webster, dictionaries, and language, at a time of rapid-fire change in the way we create, consume, define, and use words\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWords are the currency of culture--and never more than today. From \u003ci\u003eselfie \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003edoomscrolling \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003erizz\u003c\/i\u003e, our hyper-connected digital world coins and spreads new words with lightning speed and locks them into mainstream consciousness with unprecedented influence. Journalist and bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America's most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, to learn how words get into the dictionary, where they come from, who decides what they mean, and how we write and think about them. As he recounts in \u003ci\u003eUnabridged\u003c\/i\u003e, he discovered the history and fascinating subculture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere \"one of the most basic features of our collective humanity.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFatsis reveals the little-known story of how the brothers George and Charles Merriam acquired Noah Webster's original American dictionary and reshaped the business of language forever. Merriam-Webster became America's most successful and enduring compendium of words, withstanding intense competition and cultural controversies--only to be threatened by the power of Google and artificial intelligence today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDelving into Merriam's legendary archives and parsing its arcane rules, Fatsis learns the painstaking precision required for writing good definitions. He examines how the dictionary has handled the most explosive slurs and the revolutionary change in pronouns. He votes on the annual Word of the Year, travels to the legendary Oxford English Dictionary, and visits the world's greatest private dictionary collection in a Greenwich Village apartment stuffed with more than 20,000 books. Fatsis demonstrates how words are weaponized in our polarized political culture--from \u003ci\u003eliberal \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003ewoke \u003c\/i\u003eto \u003ci\u003eDEI\u003c\/i\u003e--and, in a time of insurrections and pandemics, how they can be a literal matter of life and death. Along the way, he manages to write a few definitions that crack the code and are enshrined in the pixelated dictionary.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"I fell in love with the dictionary on my eleventh birthday,\" Fatsis writes about the full-color college lexicon he received on that day. \"The dictionary projects permanence, but the language is Jell-O, slippery and mutable and forever collapsing on itself.\" \u003ci\u003eUnabridged \u003c\/i\u003etakes readers to the heart of an industry in flux, celebrating as it does the sheer thrill and wonder of words.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eStefan Fatsis \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e bestseller \u003cem\u003eWord Freak\u003c\/em\u003e, about the world of competitive Scrabble; \u003cem\u003eA Few Seconds of Panic\u003c\/em\u003e, about life in the National Football League; and \u003cem\u003eWild and Outside\u003c\/em\u003e, about minor league baseball. In four decades as a journalist, Fatsis has written and talked for Slate, the\u003cem\u003e Wall Street Journal\u003c\/em\u003e, NPR, the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/em\u003e, and many other outlets. He lives in Washington, D.C.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 416\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.73 x 9.21 x 5.98 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 14, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51978311926061,"sku":"9780802165824","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/4IyOG3NXbC9780802165824.webp?v=1775801561","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/unabridged-the-thrill-of-and-threat-to-the-modern-dictionary-hardcover","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}